Do I need a staging machine?

Because system image files can be large, the process of backing these files up should not run from production environments, but instead on staging machines.

A staging machine for K2 ServerSave is not a proprietary box that K2 requires you purchase. The staging machine can be a Win 7 workstation with ~8GB+ RAM and enough free space to handle the images and files you'll be sending to this machine before going offsite. In the end, our goal is to minimize the use of resources on production machines. The more ram the better in case you need to perform ShadowProtect VirtualBoot.

If you want to prepare for a Virtual Boot, please install ShadowProtect v4.1.5 on your Staging Machine. NOTE: You don't need a license for 4.1.5 to run VirtualBoot or Recovery tasks.

At the very least we recommend using the Lenovo Q Series for a staging server. The cost($299) is similar to a NAS, however a small Windows machine is better than a NAS for faster consolidation of your images, uploading to the cloud, etc. Here is the URL: http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/desktop/ideacentre/q-series/

After you have setup ImageManager for consolidation, verification, and retention for the folder storing your ShadowProtect images, then install K2 v5.4 and later. You will want to launch v5.4, click on the ImageStream tab, schedule a backup of your Images folder. ImageStream will mirror your local folder with the K2 Cloud.

NOTE: If the local folder storing the ShadowProtect images is modified, images are consolidated and or delete, ImageStream will do the same to the K2 Cloud copy.